At the risk of sounding like a fairness cream or a shampoo salesperson, let me tell you… this cake offers one solution for 5 different problems:
It’s eggless!
It’s alcohol free!
It’s caramel free!
It’s last min fruit cake which requires very little soaking time!
It’s super moist and soft!
Another thing I like about this cake is, it’s a one bowl cake. Yes, you heard it right and you can make it with a manual whisk! See, it’s that easy and simple. I’ve been getting requests for an eggless, alcohol free, brown sugar using, less soaking time required Christmas fruit cake for the past 2-3 years. So this year, I was on a mission to bake a cake which ticks all those columns. This cake absolutely fits the above requirements and more. Whether you use egg or not, alcohol or not, this is a must try cake! You can have my word on it :) This cake is going to be on the list of “my most fav cakes”!
Soak the fruits overnight in apple juice. Just before making the cake, drain the fruits and keep aside…
Using a manual whisk combine softened butter and brown sugar till light & fluffy. Add hot milk, yogurt & vanilla essence and mix well. Batter might look curdled at this point, but it comes together after adding the flour…
Fold in the sifted flour in two batches…
Coat the drained fruits with 1 tbsp flour before adding to the batter. Fold in the drained fruits and spice powder…
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake in the preheated oven till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean…
Please read the “notes” section before you proceed with the recipe.
- All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 1¼ cups
- Soda Bicarbonate – ½ tsp
- Baking Powder – ½ tsp
- Brown Sugar – 1 cup (I used light brown sugar)
- Butter – 85 gms, softened
- Whisked yogurt – ½ cup, room temp
- Hot Milk – ¼ cup
- Vanilla Essence – ½ tsp
- Mixed Dry Fruits – 1¾ cup
- Apple Juice – 1 cup
- For spice powder
- Cloves – 1
- Cardamom – 2
- Cinnamon – a small piece
- Soaking of Fruits
- Soak the fruits overnight in Apple juice. I used a combination of sultanas, seedless raisins,currants & candied orange & lemon peel. I didn’t chop the fruits & used it as such. You can use dried fruits of your choice. If you are using dates/apricots etc; chop it into small pieces & soak it.
- For the cake
- Preheat the oven @ 180 C, 10 minutes before baking.
- Just before making the cake, drain the fruits and keep aside. Grind together cloves, cinnamon and cardamom with a tsp of sugar and keep aside.
- Sift together all purpose flour, baking powder & soda bicarbonate. Using a manual whisk combine softened butter and brown sugar till light & fluffy. Add hot milk, yogurt & vanilla essence and mix well. Batter might look curdled at this point, but it comes together after adding the flour. Fold in the sifted flour in two batches.
- Coat the drained fruits with 1 tbsp flour before adding to the batter. Fold in the drained fruits and spice powder.
- Grease and line a cake tin (refer notes) with parchment / baking paper. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake in the preheated oven till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. The timing can vary from 25-45 mins, depending on the size of the tin used (refer notes).
- Cool the cake completely before slicing. You can store the cake in an airtight container @ room temp for 3-4 days. If you are living in a very hot or humid place, you may refrigerate the cake after 2 days.
I used a 7.5 inch and 6.5 inch round tin for baking the cake. It took 30-35 mins and 20-25 mins respectively for the cake to be baked.
You can also bake this cake plain without any fruits. Follow the same recipe and skip the part of adding fruits and spice powder.
You can also use fruits soaked in alcohol for this recipe. Except for the soaking of fruits in apple juice, follow the rest of the recipe.
If you wish to use caramel for this cake to get a dark colour, you can do so. For the qty of cake mentioned above, you can use half the qty of caramel mentioned here. You can add the caramel to the batter, just before adding the flour and mix well.